Lottery Funding Sources
The National Lottery works in partnership with 14 lottery distributors to support charities and good causes in the arts, heritage, education, health, environment, community and charity sectors. Each distributor makes independent decisions about funding allocation, and include; the Big Lottery Fund, Awards for All, the Sports Councils, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Arts Councils and NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts). Funds are allocated through a large number of schemes, each with specific guidelines, but which together encompass most areas of charitable activity. It is possible to search for suitable National Lottery funding schemes, according to the area of your charitable activity, through the Lottery Good Causes Portal, which can be found at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk.
www.lotterygoodcauses.org.ukThe Lottery Good Causes Portal provides the facility to search for National Lottery funding schemes.
www.biglotteryfund.org.ukLaunched in June 2004, the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) was formed through the mergence of the New Opportunities Fund and the Community Fund. It is now the main distributor of lottery funds, and will distribute funding worth £2.3 billion between 2006 & 2009 under a number of new schemes, most of which will be launched between autumn 2005 and spring 2006. Regularly updated information on the Big Lottery Fund’s new programmes can be found at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/publications.htm
www.awardsforall.org.ukGrants of up to £5,000 for community projects in the UK.
The Arts Councils of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland distribute lottery money to projects furthering the arts.
- Arts Council England (www.artscouncil.org.uk)
- Arts Council of Northern Ireland (www.artscouncil-ni.org)
- Scottish Arts Council (www.scottisharts.org.uk)
- Arts Council of Wales (www.artswales.org.uk)
The UK Film Council is the Government-backed strategic agency for film in the UK, distributing Lottery funds.
National Lottery distributors of grants for sports:
- www.uksport.gov.uk - UK Sport
- www.sportengland.org - Sport England
- www.sports-council-wales.co.uk - Sports Council for Wales
- www.sportni.net - Sports Council Northern Ireland
- www.sportscotland.org.uk - Sport Scotland
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) gives grants to a wide range of projects involving the local, regional and national heritage of the United Kingdom. Since 1994 the HLF has allocated £3 billion to over 15,000 projects.
www.nesta.org.ukNESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is funded by an endowment from the National Lottery. The interest is used to back people of exceptional talent and imagination. Innovative projects which develop new products and services, or experiment with new ways of nurturing creativity in science, technology and the arts are funded.
